1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a health-appealing food which has improved shelf life of vegetable, fruit, seed, nut, seaweed and the like and has characteristics that it is rich in calcium and dietary fiber, that it is oil-free and that it is low in calories. Further, the present invention also relates to a method for producing snack food chips which can conform to a variety of requests associated with the health, nutrition, preference and the like of consumers, from vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts, seaweeds and the like. In addition, the present invention also relates to a snack food which incorporates a poly-γ-glutamic acid so as not only to retain calcium and increase the content of calcium but also to enable calcium to be efficiently absorbed into a living body, in other words, enhance absorbability of calcium.
2. Related Art
A variety of processed foods are produced and sold which take advantage of the characteristics of raw materials such as vegetables and fruits of various types, i.e., being naturally occurring materials and being good for health. For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) No. 45769/1992, a method of producing a healthy snack food using a large quantity of vegetables such as spinach, burdock and pumpkin and fruits such as apple, pineapple and banana, is disclosed. However, according to this production method, fats and oils are added to the paste-like material in a proportion of 5 to 15% so as to impart crunchiness to the target healthy snack food, so that the resulting healthy snack food becomes high in calories.
Further, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) No. 178422/2001, a fish-egg processed food sheet produced by forming fish eggs into a sheet with the use of a film forming edible polymer material is proposed. This claims that the processed food sheet is rich in calcium and dietary fiber and low in calories. However, vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts and seaweeds other than fish eggs are not studied. Further, no mention is made of the absorption of in-taken calcium.
[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]
It is an object of the present invention to provide a processed food (snack food) made from vegetable, fruit, seed, nut, seaweed or the like which improves the shelf life and processability of the vegetable, fruit, seed, nut, seaweed or the like, uses no fats and oils, has crispiness, and is rich in calcium and dietary fiber and low in calories. Another object of the present invention is to provide a snack food in respect of which the absorption of the calcium contained therein can be accelerated.
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present inventors have made intensive studies so as to achieve the above objects. As a result, the they have found that the objects can be achieved by processing vegetable, fruit, seed, nut, seaweed or the like with the use of a calcium-coagulable edible polymer material or a poly-γ-glutamic acid in addition to the calcium-coagulable edible polymer material. The present inventors have completed the present invention based on these findings.
Accordingly, a first aspect of the present invention relates to a method for producing nutraceutical chips, comprising the steps of:
preparing a viscous liquid by use of at least one selected from the group consisting of vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts and seaweeds which may have been heat-treated in advance as desired or as required, and a calcium-coagulable edible polymer material,
spreading the viscous liquid into thin layers,
applying a calcium salt aqueous solution onto the thin layers, whereby the calcium-coagulable edible polymer material is caused to gel, and
heat-drying or/and vacuum-drying the resulting thin-film gel products.
A second aspect of the present invention relates to a method for producing nutraceutical chips, comprising the steps of:
preparing a gel by use of at least one selected from the group consisting of vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts and seaweeds which may have been heat-treated in advance as desired or as required, a calcium-coagulable edible polymer material, and a calcium salt,
molding the gel into thin films, and
heat-drying or/and vacuum-drying the resulting thin-film gel products.
The second aspect method is equivalent to the first aspect method.
And, a third aspect of the present invention relates to a method for producing nutraceutical chips according to the first or second aspect method, wherein a poly-γ-glutamic acid is additionally used.